Multi-Function Display

[LadyInBed]

Can a Smart TV be used as a MFD?
Does it need a pc or some other form of computer to interface with it or just an App loaded on the TV?

 

[KompetentKrew]

Presumably you could install OpenCPN if your smart TV ran Android.

 

[LadyInBed]

Presumably you could install OpenCPN if your smart TV ran Android.

Yes, that's was done within days of getting the tv!
Maybe I haven't quite got the concept of what a MFD will achieve ?

 

[KompetentKrew]

Surely MFD is anonymous with chartplotter for most people - it's only multifunction if you use it to display radar, sonar or wind data.

You may need to install an app if you want to use a USB or bluetooth GPS with your smart TV.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Can a Smart TV be used as a MFD?
Does it need a pc or some other form of computer to interface with it or just an App loaded on the TV?

Buy a cheap laptop, connect it to the TV via a HDMI cable. Stick the laptop out of the way and operate it with a wireless keyboard/mouse. Put whatever you want on the laptop and look at it on the TV.

For instance, put the windows version of OpenCPN on the laptop and plug a USB GPS in. You can also connect an entire N2K network or NMEA 0183 devices to the laptop with a suitable converter and have all of your nav' data on OpenCPN.

Connect the laptop to the internet (i use my phone as a mobile hotspot) and you can check your email ot use the internet. You can stream TV or listen to music. You can do anything a laptop can do, but on the big screen.

 

[LadyInBed]

Thanks for the inputs, it's looking like I already have most of what I want!
The TV has WiFi to link to the em-trak b330 AIS. I've connected a USB GPS dongle to give my position on OpenCPN and a USB Bluetooth dongle to connect to a 'mini' keyboard.
What I don't yet have is a modern digital Radar (I'm still saving up for it).
What I can't quite get my head around is how I would see OpenCPN and the Radar (that would also be connected via WiFi) on the screen either as an overlay or side by side.
Is it a function within OpenCPN, that I haven't yet come across, to overlay Radar or is some other software required to split the TV screen to show Chart Plotter and Radar?